Offset hanger construction for sterile medical liquid bottle

ABSTRACT

A blow molded thermoplastic medical liquid bottle with an indented base in which there is hingedly attached an integral Dshaped hanger. This D-shaped hanger has an arcuate section with an offset area that is substantially thinner than the remaining hanger, and the offset area has a ledge surface that snaps under a shallow retaining lug that is integral with the bottle base. The offset hanger construction provides for a shallow lug requiring less thermoplastic material to be stretched out from the bottle&#39;&#39;s base during formation of the integral lug in blowmolding. This prevents excessive thinning of the bottle adjacent the hanger retaining lug.

[451 Aug. 26, 1975 OFFSET HANGER CONSTRUCTION FOR STERILE MEDICAL LIQUID BOTTLE [75] Inventor: Charles J. McPhee, Sylmar, Calif.

[73} Assignee: American Hospital Supply Corporation, Evanston, Ill.

[22] Filed: Feb. 26, 1974 [21] Appl. No: 445,850

[52] US. Cl 215/100 A; 248/360; 220/94 A [51] Int. Cl. B65D 23/012 [58] Field of Search 215/100 A, 100 R, DIG. 3; 248/359, 360; 220/94 A, 94 R; 16/124, 125,

3,581,928 6/1971 Amand 215/100 A Primary ExaminerHerbert F. Ross Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Larry N. Barger; Robert T. Merrick [5 7 ABSTRACT A blow molded thermoplastic medical liquid bottle with an indented base in which thereis hingedly attached an integral D-shaped hanger. This D-shaped hanger has an arcuate section with an offset area that is substantially thinner than the remaining hanger, and the offset area has a ledge surface that snaps under a shallow retaining lug that is integral with the bottle base. The offset hanger construction provides for a shallow lug requiring less thermoplastic material to be stretched out from the bottles base during formation of the integral lug in blowmolding. This prevents excessive thinning of the bottle adjacent the hanger retaining lug.

4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures sai .3

OFFSET HANGER CONSTRUCTION FOR STERILE MEDICAL LIQUID-BOTTLE connected at one end to the container and at an opposite end to a venous needle in'the patient.

Sterile parenteral solutions, such as dextrose normal saline, etc.' are frequently supplied to the hospital in sealed sterilized containers. vA typical container has a dispensing outlet at one end that connects to a tubu' lar administration set and a hanger at an opposite end for suspending the bottle above the patient. Such a hanger can be hinged or pivoted relative to the base so that the bottle can stand upright on its base during filling, storage, etc. v I

It has been proposed to make a blow molded thermoplastic bottle for sterile medical liquid. Sucha thermoplastic bottle has a base with an indented recess containing an integral hinged hanger. This hanger folds into the recess and isretained in the recess by a retention lug so the hanger does not interfere with standing the bottle upright on its base. When the liquid contents of the bottle are to be dispensedthrough the administration set, the hanger is pulled out from the retention lug and folded out of the recess to hang the bottle with its dispensing outlet downward. 1

One of the problems in a thermoplastic bottle that had such an integral hinged hanger and an .inte'gralretention lug, was a weakened area in the base of the bottle where the lug was formed. This was because during the lug forming process of blow molding the material to form the lug was stretchedly deformed out from the base of the bottle. Where the lug joined the bottle base there was a thinned area of thermoplastic material. Such a thinned area was more prone to develop a leak if not precisely formed during the molding process. The problem of the excessively thinned area adjacent the lug became more serious as the lug became larger. One of the limiting factors of the lug size of previous bottles was that the lug had to have a depth greater than the thickness of the hinged hanger. This was so the hinged hanger could be retained in an undercut recess of the lug.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention provides an improved lug and hanger relationship whereby the depth of the lug can be considerably reduced, and thus requires less material to be stretched from the base of the bottle during the blow molding process. This invention provides a hinged hanger that has an offset section at a mold parting line providing a ledge surface which can snap into an undercut portion ofa shallow retention lug. Since the parting line is along a central plane passing through the hanger, the thickness of the hanger that must snap under the lug has been effectively reduced by approximately 50% in thickness without sacrificing any significant amount of hanging strength of the hanger. The retention lug can thus be considerably shallower than previous lugs because it does not have to receive the entire thickness of the hanger--only one-half of its thickness.

THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a fron t-elevational view of the thermoplastic bottle as it is supplied to the hospital;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line hanger.

FIG. 3is a'n-enlarged bottom plan view taken along line 3-3 of FlG. l; Y

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a bottom portion ofthe bottle in FIG. 1 showing the hanger folded outwardly from the retention lug; and

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the'offset section of the DETAILED DESCRIPTION FIG. 1 shows the thermoplastic bottle as it is supplied to the hospital. Here the bottle generally represented "as 2, hada neck 4 with an external flange 6. Secured to this flange 6 is an outer cap 8. The outer cap 8 shown in FIG. 1 is described in more detail in my co-pending application entitled, Three Barrier Closure System for "Medical Liquid Container S.N. 445,834. Alternatively the outer cap could be a cap such as described in a copending application entitled Frangible ClosureSys- Item for Medical Liquid Container and Method of Making Same SN. 338,685 invented by Pradip Choksi.

The outer cap is removed immediately before administering the solution, and exposes an outset structure beneath the outer closure for connecting with a tubular administration set (.notsho wn). Afront of the bottle has a label 210 located between calibrations 21a and 21b.

At a base of the bottle is a pair of protruding sections 10 and 12 with a recess 14 the rebe tween. If desired, a series of feet, two of which are shown as 20 and 22, can be included on the protruding section 10 and 12 to aid in supporting the container upright on a flat surface during filling, storing, etc. Within the recess 14 is an integral hinged thermoplastic hanger 16 that is retained in a hinged position within the recess 14 by a retention lug 18.

In FIG. 2 the enlarged sectional view of the hanger and lug system is shown. Here the bottle has a side wall portion 24 that is integrally formed with a base wall 26. The lug, generally indicated as 18', has a tapering wall section 28, a nose section 30, and an undercut wall section 32. Undercut wall section 32 provides a pocket into which a portion of the hinged hanger 16 can snap and be retained in its folded condition within the recess.

The nose section 30 of lug 18 is much shallower than would be required if the pocket formed by undercut wall section 32 had to house an entire thickness of hanger 16. Such is not the case in FIG. 2 because of an offset section 34 in hanger 16. Thus, only approximately one-half the thickness of hanger 18 need snap under nose 30 as shown in FIG. 2. This allows lug 18 to be made with a much shallower configuration, which prevents excessive thinning of material adjacent undercut wall section 32 and surrounding areas. This thinning occurs during blow molding of the bottle and integral lug 18. When the bottle is blow molded the thermoplastic material is stretched out of base wall 26 to form lug 18. As the thermoplastic material stretches it tends to thin.

In the bottom view of FIG. 3 the bottle has a generally oval cross-sectional shape with a major axis 36 and a minor axis 38. The hinged hanger has an integral hinge 52 that lies along a major axis 36. Lug 18 is generally symetrical with the minor axis 38.

In the enlarged fragmentary view of the bottom section of the bottle shown in FIG. 4, the hanger 16 has been unfolded from lug 18. The hanger 16 has a D- shape with a generally straight inner section 42, and an arcuate hanging web 44. The offset section is at the arcuate hanging web and has a ledge surface 46. This ledge surface has a crescent shape with ends 48 and 50 that blend in with the hanging web of the hanger. The D-shape hanger is connected to base wall 26 by the hinged hanger 52.

The enlarged cross-sectional view of the hanging web portion 44 of FIG. illustrates a rear half 54 and a front half 56 of the hanger that is bisected by a longitudinal plane 58. The plane 58 extends longitudinally through the unfolded hanger and also through the major axis 36 at a base of the bottle. The hanger is formed in this unfolded condition, and there is a parting line of the bottle mold that corresponds to the longitudinal plane 58 through the bottle. Thus, the hanger is formed generally in the position shown in FIG. 4. Lying along this plane 58 is an offset section 46, along an inner edge of the hanging web 44 of the hinged hanger. This offset portion diminishes as it proceeds toward blend area 50 as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.

It has been found that the present invention works very well with a bottle, integral hangerand integral lug which are all formed by blow molding of a propyleneethylene copolymer thermoplastic.

1n the foregoing description a specific embodiment has been used to describe the invention. However, it is understood that persons skilled in the art can make certain modifications to this embodiment without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A thermoplastic liquid container with a base wall at one end and a dispensing outlet at an opposite end, and this container has a hinged hanger connected to the base wall, and a lug that is an integral protrusion from the base wall, said lug having an undercut recess into which the hanger can snap for holding the hanger in a folded position near the base wall, wherein the improvement comprises:

said lug recess defining a section having an overhanging nose spaced from the base wall; said hanger being planar and defining a portion of a ring, said ring having an inner offset portion of reduced thickness, said hanger having front and rear surfaces and a mold parting line between its front and rear surfaces, said offset portion positioned on one side of said mold parting line and defines a flat hanger ledge surface along said mold parting line, said offset portion has a curved cam surface for snapping over the lugs nose section with the hanger ledge surface engaging the underneath portion of said nose section, whereby the lug can be a substantially shallower protrusion from the base wall than a lug that must retain the hangers entire thickness under its nose section.

2. The combination as set forth in claim 1, wherein the hangers offset portion is approximately one half as thick as adjacent portions of the hanger.

3. The combination as set forth in claim 1, wherein the offset section extends along only a portion of the mold parting line of the hanger and is crescent-shaped.

4. The combination as set forth in claim 1, wherein the hanger has an opening therethrough, and is generally D-shaped with a generally straight inner portion of the hanger being hingedly attached to the container. 

1. A thermoplastic liquid container with a base wall at one end and a dispensing outlet at an opposite end, and this container has a hinged hanger connected to the base wall, and a lug that is an integral protrusion from the base wall, said lug having an undercut recess into which the hanger can snap for holding the hanger in a folded position near the base wall, wherein the improvement comprises: said lug recess defining a section having an overhanging nose spaced from the base wall; said hanger being planar and defining a portion of a ring, said ring having an inner offset portion of reduced thickness, said hanger having front and rear surfaces and a mold parting line between its front and rear surfaces, said offset portion positioned on one side of said mold parting line and defines a flat hanger ledge surface along said mold parting line, said offset portion has a curved cam surface for snapping over the lug''s nose section with the hanger ledge surface engaging the underneath portion of said nose section, whereby the lug can be a substantially shallower protrusion from the base wall than a lug that must retain the hanger''s entire thickness under its nose section.
 2. The combination as set forth in claim 1, wherein the hanger''s offset portion is approximately one half as thick as adjacent portions of the hanger.
 3. The combination as set forth in claim 1, wherein the offset section extends along only a portion of the mold parting line of the hanger and is crescent-shaped.
 4. The combination as set forth in claim 1, wherein the hanger has an opening therethrough, and is generally D-shaped with a generally straight inner portion of the hanger being hingedly attached to the container. 